Carry on Tuesday is a fun writer’s prompt that takes a line from a novel or movie and asks that you include it in a story. This week, a line from Aliens:“We'd better get back, ‘cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly.”

OutbreakShe checks the chunky mens’ watches she wears on both her skinny wrists, expensive chronograph models that charge with the sun. Amazingly, they’re still linked to the government’s atomic clock in Boulder – there’s a timepiece that took a licking and keeps on ticking - and each is correct to the millisecond.“We'd better get back, ‘cause it’ll be dark soon, and they mostlycome at night... mostly.”We’ve not nearly foraged enough for the evening. Too many mouths to feed, too many wounds to dress.Too many who have the pathogen surging in their veins.Not nearly enough bullets.I pat her golden hair, streaked as it is with dirt and sweat.“We’ll be OK.”“No, we won’t,” she says, tapping the Casio on her right wrist.Dusk is settling on the city and the fires are already being lit. Signal flares against the onslaught. A nightly battle that I’m sorry to say we’re losing.Just not enough bullets.And no cure.I push the SUV past a speed that’s safe.She senses my anxiety and puts a tiny hand on mine.“It’s going to be OK.”And taps both watches for affect.

Thom Gabrukiewicz is both a communicator and a writer of flash fiction. Most of what he writes is kind of dark, with occasional forays into the light.
He’s a winner of some awards and has covered two Winter Olympics. He’s also written a guidebook about hiking with dogs.
He’s fiercely loyal and has a malevolent side that seems to visit less and less. He’s both a hopeless romantic and a realist.
He's currently working on community wellness issues in Wyoming.